Bogdan asked if I knew of any period ceremonies, because he preferred to make it as close to period as possible. It just so happened that my *second* apprentice, Lady Isabella de Corbie (costuming, millinery) wanted the same thing and did the research. She found a whole chapter (Chapter 8) on apprentices and apprenticing in Barbara Hanawalt's _Growing up in Medieval London_ (Oxford Univ. Press, 1993, ISBN 0195093844).

The key elements of initiation into apprenticeship that Hanawalt identifies from 14th and 15th century English sources were as follows: payment of fees from the apprentice candidate drawing up a contract outlining both parties' obligations & duties examination to evaluate candidate's worthiness, including literacy test repetition of an oath before six guild witnesses (wardens & masters) I required the addition of a demonstration of skill as part of the examination to determine the worthiness of the candidate.

Several people commented about how spiffy the oath was (from the London Grocers Company, 1345-1481), and at least two people mentioned adopting it, so here's the text if anyone wants to use it:

"Ye shall swear to be good and trewe to our sovereign lord king and to his heirs. And well and trewly ye shall serve your master for the terms of your apprenticeshood. <sic> And ye shall be obedient unto the wardens and and to all the clothing of the fellowship. In reverence the secrets of the said fellowship ye shall keep and give no information to no man but of the said fellowship. An if it fortune that ye part from the mistery ye shall not serve anyone out of the fellowship without license of the wardens. And in all these things ye shall well and truly behave you to your power so help you god and all saints and by that book."

Additional notes:
the contract was calliged by his wife, Lady Despina, in a period Romanian hand (but written in English) to match Bodgan's persona. We each signed it and I am now in the keeping of it.

I told Bogdan that I required my apprentices to keep an apprentice book", but that they could interpret that however they wanted to -- a journal, an archive of things they had done, both, whatever. Mr. Smarty Pants Apprentice combined it with a demonstration of skill -- he made a marzipan book painted with walnut juice with "apprentice book" written in Romanian on the "cover". It was passed around to be broken up and tasted by those gathered.

He did something similar with the required "payment" -- he made a marzipan box colored the same way which was filled with marzipan "coins" colored with saffron. My almost-three-year-old daughter has been happily munching on the coins for two days.